<< Our Photo Pages >> Hatch Furlong Ritual Shafts - Misc. Earthwork in England in Surrey
Submitted by Andy B on Tuesday, 29 April 2008 Page Views: 20960
Multi-periodSite Name: Hatch Furlong Ritual ShaftsCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 1.006 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Surrey Type: Misc. Earthwork
Nearest Town: Epsom Nearest Village: Ewell
Map Ref: TQ223625
Latitude: 51.348429N Longitude: 0.245273W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Ritual Shafts in Surrey. A series of deep shafts found cut into chalk bedrock at Hatch Furlong. Shafts excavated on what is now the site of the nearby Homebase superstore were found to contain pottery vessels, coins and the bones of many dogs and cats. There is also evidence of prehistoric activity in the form of worked flints.
I was invited on a tour of the dig by field archaeologist Mick Miles, one of the instructors of the training dig that is going on at the moment. In the trench he is working on they have uncovered the top of one of the ritual shafts, which is around five feet by five feet (1.5m) square. They are not able to dig the shaft out completely as it is around 14 feet deep, however it was opened up in the 1970s by members of the local society, with Jon Cotton from the Museum of London. He is now their lead curator of prehistory, and was responsible for the excellent new prehistory gallery, 'London before London'. He was back at the dig in Ewell as co-director with Harvey Sheldon of Birkbeck College, and I had the chance of a quick chat .
We saw finds in the form of prehistoric worked flint, Roman pot fragments and animal bones. We also got a demonstration of sieving of the tiny finds and snail shells used in environmental archaeology to tell such things as the type of foliage cover that would have been present.
There are public open days this Friday and Saturday, when visitors are welcome to come and see archaeology in action on Friday May 5 from 12.30 to 7pm, and Saturday May 6 from 10am to 3pm. It is immediately off the A24 just after the Homebase store. Going from the Epsom direction, go past the turning on the left, then into a layby on the left-hand side. There is no parking available on site, although the layby outside may be used.
Birkbeck college's next training dig is at Syon House in June and July 2006, where they are in their third season of excavations, this year looking in the area of the now demolished medieval abbey church.
Note: 2008 Open Day - Bank Holiday Monday, see latest comment below for more information.
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